This is my first time playing Magpie-Girl's 8 things. This week's list - 8 songs that aren't conventionally categorized as religious but that connect you to the Divine. (& you decide what that means.)

1) Wonder of Birds, Innocence Mission We learn to dance with broomstick partners, grace will be ours when we shall grow our wings, with the wonder of birds! Imagine the song starting gently and then building into the freedom of singing & soaring with birds.

2) Wonder, Natalie Merchant Know this child will be gifted with love, with patience & with faith. She'll make her way.

3) Joyful Girl, Ani Difranco I do it for the joy it brings, because I am a joyful girl, because the world owes me nothing, we owe each other the world.

4) Sing About Life, Tiddas So we try to do it right, we sing about life... you know you may be right, you & me may both be free

5) Hand Me Downs, Indigo Girls Everything that I believe, crawls from underneath the streets, Everything I truly love, comes from somewhere far above, Everything that I believe is wrong with you is wrong with me, Everything I truly love I love in you and I love in me.

6) Mary, Patty Griffin Jesus said Mother I couldn't stay another day longer, Flies right by and leaves a kiss upon her face, While the angels are singin' his praises in a blaze of glory, Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place

7) God Will Thank You, Lori McKenna Maybe I only read the Bible when I'm staying at the Holiday Inn, I see church at Easter & Christmas but every other Sunday I just can't fit it in. But I'm coming from a true place, I'm shining like a new light. I'm thanking God every day for everything I have in my life.

8) You Are Loved, Victoria Williams You are loved, you are loved, you are really really really loved.

I was surprised to see how old these songs are... for the most part they entered my CD circulation in my 20s. It's not just that I don't buy music the way that I used to, it's also that these songs nurtured and nourished me in a spiritual awakening. I was rejecting Christian religion as it had been given to me. I was developing authority for my own soul. And then... what?

What happens after awakening? There's no there, there. You have to build it yourself. Craft your own practice. Find and form bonds with kindreds (and they aren't gathered neatly in one place each weekend waiting for you to bring the juice and bagels.) I've been dwelling on this threshold all these years. Not totally alone and yet... So this week's 8 Things is a good gift of remembering to me: what my soul-life is worth, what sustains it, what sustains me, and some hint of how to live into these songs with & without a community.

Anything here catch your ear? Want to play too? Stop by Magpie-Girl to pick up a button and give a listen to what the other players shared as their 8 Songs for the Soul.